Finally, Blackberry has made Blackberry Messenger available for Windows Phone. Announced via an official blog post, Blackberry Messenger (or BBM, as it’s popularly known), one of Blackberry’s most well known software products, is now available for Microsoft’s mobile OS platform. However, there’s a big catch. Even though the app is available on the Windows Phone Store, you can’t download it just yet. That’s because Blackberry Messenger has been launched as a private beta. This essentially means that you need to sign-up to get an invitation for the beta. But once this beta is over, you will also be able to enjoy it on your Windows phone.
Blackberry Messenger Beta available for Windows Phone:
At last, there’s some good news for the Windows Phone users, waiting with bated breaths to exchange some BBM PIN’s. Delivering on the promise made about five months ago at this year’s Mobile World Congress, Blackberry has launched Blackberry Messenger, one of its most popular and well known products for the Windows Phone platform (the app is already available for iOS, Android, and of course, Blackberry 10).
However, don’t get too excited and hop over to the Windows Phone Store just yet. Though Blackberry Messenger is now available for Windows Phone, the app’s still in private beta. And this means that if you’re not a member of the private beta program, you can’t download it. Sure as hell that’s a bummer, but at least it’s good news for those waiting for BBM’s launch on Windows Phone. Announcing the availability of the beta version of the app via an official blog post, Blackberry said that the beta release is a great way to get feedback from the select users (beta testers) about things such as stability, features (and feature requests), bugs & issues, and things like that.
The post outlines some of the initial features of the beta release of Blackberry Messenger for Windows Phone. Here’s a lowdown:
- Native UI: Blackberry Messenger for Windows Phone fully embraces the Metro (or as it’s called now, Modern) UI design language of the Windows Phone platform.
- Private Group Chats: In addition to being able to create chat groups having up to 50 people, you can maintain control and privacy while sharing/chatting with others.
- Share What You Want: BBM beta for Windows Phone lets you share pictures, voice notes, contacts and location (with additional features like BBM Voice, Stickers coming soon).
- BBM Feeds: The feeds section in the beta version of BBM for Windows Phone lets you see things like status updates, profile photo changes etc., from all of your contacts easily, from one place.
How to Sign Up for Blackberry Messenger for Windows Phone Beta program?
As mentioned previously in the article, Blackberry Messenger is available on the Windows Phone store as a private beta, which means you need to be on the beta users’ list to get your hands on it. Doing so is quite simple. All you have to do is go to Blackberry BetaZone for Windows Phone homepage, and sign up using your Blackberry ID. Once you receive the invite (which may take some time, considering the number of beta requests), you can hop over to Windows Phone Store to grab yourself the beta release of Blackberry Messenger, and start BBMing.
Conclusion
Blackberry Messenger being finally available for Windows Phone store, is a great thing. Even more so for those who’ve been eagerly waiting for it. Though the fact that you still can’t download it as a regular app and have to go through the beta sign-up process is a bit of a bummer, but hey, at least you know you’ll be getting it soon enough, if not today.
Have you signed up for the Blackberry Messenger for Windows Phone beta program, and are using the beta release already? Let me know in the comments section below.
Image Courtesy: Eduardo Woo via Flickr